Monday, January 30, 2012

Sketch + Portfolio Update

Did a 15 minute sketch today in my illustration class with the fancy Wacom Cintiq 3. (I'd wish they'll change them to Cintiq 4 and sell off the 3s to students in a cheap garage sale.) I also updated my resume and portfolio at my portfolio site HERE. 

Meanwhile, I'm learning new softwares and being exposed to more stuff from my graduate friends who are crazily (and unbelievably) awesome. If you have some time, go visit my illustration friend, Tim's blog and my crazy Vietnam friend Chi's blog. (It's in Vietnam but the politic comics are just too beautiful and you can view it as is without even reading the text)

Weird 15 minute sketch


Thursday, January 26, 2012

New Illustration: Autumn + process

My new illustration for the year!!! Titled: Autumn!!! This is also my first assignment in the illustration major using some cool new techniques, tips and tricks in Photoshop that I never knew! (Even though I've been using it for 7 years...shame shame...) So today, I'm gonna do something a little different. I'll be showing you the stage by stage process!

Friday, January 20, 2012

INSPIRING ARTIST: Kelsey Garrity Riley

Hi Everyone! This week actually marks the new year for the Chinese people. (In our Lunar Calender context) So with the "start" of the New Year (again, haha) we bring you a cool illustrator that we've promised last week! We bring you, Kelsey Garrity Riley! Kelsey graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design. In 2010, we were featured in the same EXHIBITION as her and since then, we've been a fan of her work. As you can see from Kelsey's illustration, her illustration are simple, the usage of negative space  in her works is ingenious and they are appealing! 

Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the long post!!!!!


Visit Kelsey's website HERE

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

SOPA bill: The next internet killer

If you haven't heard about SOPA, you probably should start goggling it as chances are it will effect you the same way it will affect me. On this coming Friday, US time 20th Jan 2012, a couple of website will go blackout in protest of this bill. the lists includes: Wikipedia, Reddit, BoingBoing, WordPress (.org websites), Twitpic (Twitter photos), Mozilla and a few other giants. Companies like Google, Yahoo and Facebook have voiced their concerned but if this bill pass through, our internet lives will never be the same again.

So what is SOPA you ask? In short, it is an anti-piracy bill working its way through Congress. Sounds good doesn't it, well piracy sure ain't right. That we all know. So if this bill pass through, doesn't it benefit all of us?

NO.

Here's what will happen if SOPA goes through, it will grant power to content creators, EXTRAORDINARY POWER over the internet. I'll give you an example. Let's say Dreamworks claims a site somewhere in Sweden is torrenting a copy of Kungfu Panda, the studio can now tell Google (yes, tell, not request) to remove that particular website from its search engine, tell PayPal to not accept any payments to or from the site and tell the website's ISP to block internet traffic to that particular website. The best part of this is, Dreamworks just need to send out a single letter or email claiming the studio has "good faith belief" that the particular website has committed a piracy act. Yes, no checking, no notice. If YOU, yes YOU as a user accidentally linked such a website to your Facebook account, they can inform Facebook and SHUT YOU DOWN. Once Facebook receives that notice, they will have 5 days to either oblige or challenge that case and take it to court. We all pretty much know what Facebook will do right?

This is just part of the story, want to know more? Google SOPA today.
*If you can't surf most of the websites on Friday, don't panic. At least you know why now*


Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Black & White Series: Society - Fireflies + Updates!!

Hi everyone! I have been incredibly busy in the first two weeks of school! Here's an update of our life!!! 

Crazy January : I have been working as Storyboard Artist on an independent film which is scheduled for release in 2013 next year for the past 2 months. I'm getting close to finishing the boards but unfortunately, I can't show you guys anything. One thing I can mention is, the editor on our film is the assistant editor on the movie, HUGO. I am also taking the Society illustration project into the next step and printing them on high quality Canvas. (16 by 20 inch) They look really awesome. (and crazily expensive) This quarter, I need to produce two short comic for our Sequential classes and I can't wait to show you the thumbnails and sketches. There's lots of experiment going on in these two comic in terms of story, art direction and Technic!!! I also have a Great interview of an awesome illustrator lineup for you next week! Not to mention, more Book Reviews! And also, be prepared to see more stuff from the Society project in the coming weeks!!!


*On a side note, I've got a new great used car! (^__^)*



Fireflies


Getting the illustrations into expensive Canvas Print. 16 by 20 inch.


Monday, January 2, 2012

INSPIRING ARTIST: Troy Chin


Happy New Year folks!! I had initially planned to end 2011 with today's great interview but unfortunately (and fortunately in other ways) I was down with fever over 38.5 degree. So here I am, at 2012's beginning and I give you, TROY CHIN!!! This legendary man (in my opinion he is legendary) is a Singaporean who went to the States, working in the music industry for close to a decade. One fine day he suddenly came home (to Singapore) and devoted himself to comics. Yes, purely self taught. (if you still have no idea about his work, go read my post back HERE)

**In this interview, Troy has been very very very honest. Before you proceed to read this long interview, I want to state that DESPITE whatever he has said ,(as you are about to read) Troy is an exceptional individual, friendly and one of the most helpful man on Earth I know. (Even though he disagrees and doesn't see it that way) Also, much that has been discussed here is in Singapore's context.


Click HERE for more of Troy's work.